Eron Wolf joins Wolf Tivy to discuss alternative computing and the trappings of the streamlined user experience. As computing technology has become more widespread, the possibilities it offers the user have been narrowed. DRM restrictions, software bloat, and "appification" have made tinkering more difficult. Attempts at fixing this, such as the open-source software movement, have not been able to halt the trend. How can it be done differently? Eron Wolf is a Software Author at FUTO, an organization dedicated to improving tech sovereignty for the user. He founded Yahoo! Games and was a seed investor for Whatsapp. He tweets @eron_wolf.
Mathis Bitton joins Ash Milton to discuss his PALLADIUM 05 article on state centralization under Charles de Gaulle, the institutional history of French liberalism, and how a nation is built. France occupies a unique position among the Western powers. With public spending at two thirds of its GDP, the French bureaucratic state has historically required a powerful executive. Charles de Gaulle refounded the state after the end of World War II and built a system that ensured the French executive is representative of the people's will, able to instantly reorganize the government when needed, and a living embodiment the nation's traditions. Mathis Bitton is a student of political theory at Yale University. His writing focuses on liberalism and institutional development. You can follow him on Twitter @mlbitton.
Nicolas Villarreal joins Ash Milton to discuss his 05 article on how capitalist giants use socialist cybernetic planning, cybernetic methods of organizing supply chains, and their impact on the worker. Socialist Chile centrally planned its economy using Project Cybersyn, which used computerized feedback loops to give production managers live updates on changes in demand and other production indicators. This helped solved the “bullwhip” problem, where producers belatedly learned of changes in demand that originate further down the supply chain. Capitalist supergiants like Amazon and Walmart use similar systems to maintain efficiency. But ultimately the workers are made to work at the tempo of an automated feedback system that leads to injury and exhaustion. Nicolas and Ash also discuss how industrial rationalization and efficiency can lead to worker organization. Nicolas’s article "How Capitalist Giants Use Socialist Cybernetic Planning" is featured in PALLADIUM 05: Centralizing Society. Nicolas Villarreal works as an analyst for a government contractor and formerly worked in federal banking regulation. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, and author of the novel Caeruleus. He tweets @NicolasDVillar1.
Charles Smith joins Alexander Gelland to talk about his 2020 article Confronting Modernity Means Overcoming Humanism, featured in PALLADIUM 05: Centralizing Society. The emancipating power of modernity has escaped our control and begun to resemble its opposite. But, if we have the vision to see it through, new technologies promise a radical reshaping of our society for the better. Join Alex and Charles as they discuss how posthuman societies resemble those of the past, where legitimacy comes from, and the unutilized power of digital communities.
Erik Hoel joins Ash Milton to discuss the current state of education, how it succeeded aristocratic tutoring, and what it means for progress. Up until the creation of mass schooling in the nineteenth century, tutelage was the most common form of education. Only aristocrats were able to afford this, and with the disappearance of aristocratic society so too has tutoring fallen out of practice. But its advantages are what enabled great works of genius to emerge over the past three hundred years. Scientists like Bertrand Russell, William James, and Ludwig Wittgenstein were all given individual instruction at a young age, which was a key part of their success. Erik and Ash discuss the history of the practice and if there is a viable future for it. Erik Hoel is a research assistant professor at Tufts University. He recently published his debut novel, and his other writing can be found at his Substack.
Dylan Levi King joins Ash Milton to discuss his PALLADIUM 05 article on the cult of Jiao Yulu and China's convergence with Western technocracy. Local Communist Party cadres of the 60s and 70s experimented with economic reforms that seeded China’s economic success. Jiao Yulu was their model. Since then things have changed. China has become no less susceptible to demographic change, financialization, and reliance on opinion polling than its Western counterparts. But there will always be potential for experimentation on China’s frontiers—something that Dylan will go on to capture in his latest article, Empire of The Golden Triangle. Dylan Levi King is a writer living in Tokyo. His Twitter handle is @dylanleviking.
Palladium Correspondent Fin DePencier joined Ash Milton from the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, where he has been reporting on the ongoing Russian invasion. In addition to events on the ground, they discussed the wider implications of this war for Russia's sphere of influence, given its recent history of frozen conflict and continuing involvement in Central Asia and the Middle East. One recent example of this influence occurred in Kazakhstan during its widespread protests and riots in January 2022. A Russian-led intervention by the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) quelled these protests and secured the position of its new president against his own predecessor. Fin reported on these events for Palladium. Fin has left Kharkiv since this podcast was recorded. The city has come under escalated assault. Follow on Twitter and Instagram for ongoing updates and for his other work.
Richard Hanania joins Ash Milton to talk about the U.S. confrontation with Russia and why it keeps enduring. With the U.S. keeping the door open for future NATO expansion in eastern Europe, Russia is continuing its own military build-up in the region. Most recently, tensions rose again over Ukraine and its future. What drives the ideologies behind the foreign policy? And what does it really take to update entrenched political worldviews? Richard Hanania is President of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI) and a research fellow at Defense Priorities. He also writes via Substack.
Charles Coulombe joins Ash Milton to discuss the rise and fall of the WASP ruling class, which he also covered in Palladium 04. America's upper class went from disparate networks of families to a national elite in only a few generations. Then, they lost it all. Topics include the WASPs' intentional cultivation of their internal culture, the decay of their ideologies and institutions, and more. Palladium 04 is our latest quarterly print edition, including an anthology of work and original art. To receive this and future copies,subscribe now.
Samo Burja joins Wolf Tivy to discuss his article in Palladium 04 on how rising classes become new elites. Historically, cycles of violence often break out at these moments, and yet elites are surprisingly good at surviving the resulting turnover. Are there better ways of integrating new players into a society's elite? Palladium 04 is our latest quarterly print edition, including an anthology of work and original art. To receive this and future copies,subscribe now.